Coaches’ perceptions of the potential use of performance analysis in badminton

Abstract

Despite performance analysis’ proliferation as part of the coaching process, there remains a dearth of literature examining coaches’ perceptions of its use. Equally, a distinct gap in literature exists examining the use of performance analysis in the context of badminton. This study aimed to address these issues through an exploration of badminton coaches’ perceptions of the potential use of performance analysis in their coaching process. After analysing three badminton players’ performance using objective video data, in depth individualised performance profiles were created. These were presented to seven badminton coaches, who were interviewed as to their perceptions of the utility of this analysis. Interview transcripts were analysed via content analysis, revealing that all bar one of the coaches directly praised the analysis undertaken and it’s potential to aid coaching performance. Specifically, the majority of coaches praised the usefulness of the performance profiles as part of the wider coaching process, citing the ability to compare objective data to the performers own perceptions as particularly valuable. In this study the possible use of performance analysis in badminton was mostly well received by coaches, and this implicates it as a potentially key component in improving coach and athlete performance in an evolving coaching process.